WEST MICHIGAN — The attached snapshot is directly from our FOX 17 weather department. One of the many maps we examine on a day-to-day basis to see where the cloud cover is (and isn’t). This is visible satellite imagery and is actually the sunlight reflecting off the clouds. Its only drawback is it can only be used during the day, but it gives us excellent resolution of clouds/fog.
The image was captured at 11:00 AM Sunday morning. Notice the major void of all cloudiness across most of the Midwest and Great Lakes a s a huge ridge or dome of high pressure sits stationary over the region. High pressure creates what meteorologists call subsidence, or sinking air. When the air is forced to sink, it’s typically not conducive to cloud formation…therefore the end result is usually clear skies. Clouds, rain, or storms that try to move in our direction under this ridge typically fall apart. The air is usually too dry and the overall sinking motion too great for them to stay in tact.
While we have some daytime cumulus clouds that have formed this afternoon and will likely see more over the next few days, it’s not impossible to see a few isolated thunderstorms form during the heating of the day in the afternoon/early evening. That said, most of the next several days will be dry with the best chance for storms coming as a cold front arrives Thursday night in to Friday. Click herefor an updated visible satellite image.
You can click hereto see the steamy West Michigan forecast fo the remainder of the week!
